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Lens Testing The Sigma 12-24

Stan Bonis was kind enough to loan me his new Sigma 12-24 lens for some testing. I didn’t have time to shoot any “artsy” photos with it, nor did I shoot anything to show the considerable barrel distortion. Hey it’s a 12mm lens. The lens does vignette, but not as bad as I expected. Remember all these tests are shot on a 10D with its 1.6X crop factor, so the lens is not pushed to the limits by my testing.

The observable quality of construction is very good by today’s standards. I am not really happy about any of the modern plastic body lenses with their silk screened lettering and numerals. My old Nikor lenses were finely machined, anodized aluminum and brass with engraved letters and numbers. I didn’t know what I had. Gone with the wind.

The 12-24 is not super sharp but it is not bad either. For a 12mm lens and zoom to boot, it is fantastic. Not many lenses are as sharp as my Canon 50mm macro or my 135 f/2 L. The 12-24 never gets very sharp at any f/stop but shoots about the same at all f/stops until f/22 where the effects of diffraction becomes obvious. The Sigma, wide open, is a lot sharper than my Canon 35mm f/2 at its widest aperture, and the 35 doesn’t match the 12-24 until about f/5.6 or f/8. The 35mm f/2 never does walk away from the Sigma, and that surprised me!

Hear's the kicker, the lens is not appreciably softer at the edges compared to the center. It is a little but not much, and not at all what I would expect from a super wide angle zoom lens.

Oh yes---If you think your 24-70L is the cats meow then take a look at how sorry mine is at 70mm. I couldn’t’ believe what I saw so I ran the test twice. I wonder if I have a bad example of that lens. Hey Stan, I need to check out your 24-70L. My Canon 24-70L makes the Sigma 12-24 look great.

All things considered I am favorably impressed by this particular example of the Sigma 12-24 lens. When I get my example of this lens I will test it out and see if it is as good as Stan’s.

By the way none of the photos were sharpened or adjusted in any way except the one of the kitten in the leaves.


12mm Vignette.jpg
12mm Vignette.jpg
24mm Vignette.jpg
24mm Vignette.jpg
Vignette 12mm Wide Open.jpg
Vignette 12mm Wide Open.jpg
Vignette 24mm Wide Open.jpg
Vignette 24mm Wide Open.jpg
12mm Flair Test 2.jpg
12mm Flair Test 2.jpg
12mm Flair Test.jpg
12mm Flair Test.jpg
24mm Flair Test.jpg
24mm Flair Test.jpg
Vignette and Sharpness.jpg
Vignette and Sharpness.jpg
Full Target.jpg
Full Target.jpg
Sigma 12mm 4.5_5.6.jpg
Sigma 12mm 4.5_5.6.jpg
Sigma 12mm 5.6_8.jpg
Sigma 12mm 5.6_8.jpg
Sigma 12mm 11_16.jpg
Sigma 12mm 11_16.jpg
Sigma 12mm 16_22.jpg
Sigma 12mm 16_22.jpg
Sigma 12mm 4.5_11.jpg
Sigma 12mm 4.5_11.jpg
Sigma 17mm 5.6_8.jpg
Sigma 17mm 5.6_8.jpg
Sigma 17mm 11_16jpg.jpg
Sigma 17mm 11_16jpg.jpg
Sigma 24mm 5.6_8.jpg
Sigma 24mm 5.6_8.jpg
Sigma 24mm 11_16jpg.jpg
Sigma 24mm 11_16jpg.jpg
Canon 50 Sigma 12-24 24 8.jpg
Canon 50 Sigma 12-24 24 8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 24 28_4.jpg
Canon 24-70L 24 28_4.jpg
Canon 24-70L 24 56_8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 24 56_8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 24 11_16.jpg
Canon 24-70L 24 11_16.jpg
Canon 24-70L 50 28_4.jpg
Canon 24-70L 50 28_4.jpg
Canon 24-70L 50 56_8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 50 56_8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 50 11_16.jpg
Canon 24-70L 50 11_16.jpg
Canon 24-70L 70 28_4.jpg
Canon 24-70L 70 28_4.jpg
Canon 24-70L 70 56_8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 70 56_8.jpg
Canon 24-70L 70 11_16.jpg
Canon 24-70L 70 11_16.jpg
L Bracket QR 040910_4179.jpg
L Bracket QR 040910_4179.jpg
L Bracket QR 040910_4186.jpg
L Bracket QR 040910_4186.jpg